The amazing Escherian stairwell illusion video and the myth

It looks like LiveLeak has dug up some old video of some remarkable design. Got to wonder how such an incredible set of stairs was built and you might even wonder why you’ve never heard of the Escherian Stairwell in building 7 in Rochester before?

The answer to that last question is that the stairwell is a failed Kickstarter. The team wanted $12000 but only raised $940 from 30 backers. Of course, the Kickstarter project wasn’t to build the stairs… it was to fake it. This was a project to build a modern myth.

Although the Kickstarter failed (and videos supporting it are vanishing from the web) I suspect the myth may succeed. If the video is out it is out. People will watch, not ask questions but tell their friends.

Bravo. It’s like Mage: the Ascension come true.

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Comments

I don’t understand the point of wanting to fake this, especially coming from an institute of technology. Seems like a waste of time, and I’m glad that people decided to give money to other Kickstarter Projects.

I like a good hoax – one that does no harm, gives people a period of marvel and wonder. I was about 70% convinced that they had pulled off an actual 3d illusion (not a fake vid) – thinking that the entire stairwell structure was greatly tilted … i was trying to think how they could climb and stand in such a normal seeming way – all that for about … maybe 3 minutes. It was fun. The amount they asked for was outr of wack, however.

The problem is that the gravity of the project is lost on RIT. RIT has greatly harmed its credibility with this hoax. If I ever encounter someone claiming to be an alum of RIT I will think less of them because of this hoax.

…the top landing is almost twice as wide as the bottom landing, for the stairs to look the same, the must decrease or increase in width altering the viewers perspective, however, I can’t figure out the height issue.

…the top landing is almost twice as wide as the bottom landing, for the stairs to look the same, the must decrease or increase in width altering the viewers perspective, however, I can’t figure out the height issue.

the Black guy being interviewed in the first place looks upwards, which tells obviously there is a stair case going up on the other side but when the video person walks around he goes down to meet that dude which means if that guy had to see the direction of the stairs he shoud have seen downwards not upwards, i mean its just my observation…. which first told me that its a fake… and i did a 10 second thinking after i first saw this video, and i totally knew it was impossible…

Ironically, although they failed to raise enough money to do their mockumentary, the bit they did film (in between the explanations of the KickStarter project) seems to have developed a life of its own and pretty much negated the need for the mockumentary.

As for how they filmed the stairwell segments, it’s a pretty uniform piece of architecture, so as long as the same person holds the camera in the same position and stands in the same position, it’s fairly easy to splice together two videos and make them appear the same. Even with the tour down the staircase, the first flight and second flight were filmed separately (with some degree of overlap). Once the first flight’s been recorded, you rehearse the opening couple of seconds of the second sequence until you’re matching the timing / positioning of the last couple of seconds of the first sequence, then they can be edited together with no gaps or jumps.

There are also a lot of “douchebags” that are incapable of recognizing any technology that changes the world, popular or not – though admittedly this is not, it is just a pretty well-edited video that is fun to watch.

Look at the video at 2:14, in the scene where a couple talks about the “architectural trick” as two kids play up and down the stairs.﻿ The boy in red does the normal bit of appearing at the top, walking to his right and then appearing at the bottom of stairs on the right. But at 2:14 a kid in red abruptly emerges from the out of the center wall at full-size, not at the bottom. He is not in left foreground camera but is briefly in front of the right camera. Bad edit exposes the ruse.

Also, notice the lighting at the top of the stairs to the left when Rosie first goes up, then when she appears there a 2nd time after completing the circuit .The lighting is completely different. The 2nd time you can see bright lights and her shadow sharply outlined on the left wall at the top of the stairs. Obviously different stairwell. Also the first time she walks out to see the narrator, they are never in the same framed shot. Just a smidgen of her hair on the right side makes it appear that they are.

Final comment. In the hand-holding segment, the narrative speaks with the man in cap, then as he starts to descend completely blocks the view of the man, who can be glimpsed only briefly after the narrator walks past the camera. Plenty of opportunity to left a siimilarly-dressed man take his place while he scoots behind the camera and around downstairs.

This is psychological warfare on the mind just like 911 people believe the official narrative. People need to think for themselves and use all 5 senses. Question all that you see and read, do not believe the puppet masters that control the world.